Worst Course Ever?

[Mike Golden]

What's the worst golf course you have ever played (and why?)

My nominations are Summitpointe in Milpitas, CA for it's incredibly bad front nine routing on the side of a hill-from my somewhat faded memory it seemed like all the fairways sloped either left to right or right to left about 45%.  I can't say anything about the back because I never got that far.

My other nomination is Sunol-I've played there twice in my life, both in industry tournaments that took 6 hours, and just hated the routing and conditioning.  I don't think anyone actually chooses to play Sunol, they just go there for a tournament.

[Sean Leary]

Furry Creek....

[JESII]

Mike,

Just out of curiosity, were there clear options for a different routing?

[David Ober]

Fairmount Park in Riverside, California. A dillapidated, flat, uninteresting, mess of a 9-hole course.

Trust me.

[mike_malone]

 Town and Country in N.J. It is a flat piece of land that could easily have led to short walks between greens and tees. But, many times during the round you need to drive the cart a ways to the next tee. There is one cart path that goes underneath a green. There wasn't any need for this. I guess they just thought it was unique or cool.

   The course ends with two parallel short par fours carved out of the trees. It seems that the builder did not think of how 18 holes were going to be placed on that property.

[Bruce Katona]

an all-time favorite on this site - Country Club of the Poconos...miles of cart paths, many lost balls.......7 iron tee shot, 4 iron approach to the green....it is an all-time classic.

[CJ Carder]

I have to nominate the big course at Massanutten Resort in Virginia.  Hands down the worst course I've ever played.  The routing was fine, but on half of the holes, it was physically impossible to keep the ball in the fairway due to the slopes and when the ball took the slope, it would either run into a creek, woods, or leave a horrendous angle into the greens.  Not to mention the conditioning was horrid when I played there.  Last time I was there, I think they were trying to charge $120 a round.

[Doug Ralston]

Fernbanks in Cincinnati; where the fairways actually cross in an 'X', and sanity only makes you laugh!

Doug

[Will MacEwen]

Furry Creek....

I have friends who will put The Rock higher up the shame hierarchy...I haven't played both.

[David Stamm]

Lake San Marcos CC

Temeku Hills

Shore Cillfs

[Jason Connor]

Shenley Park in Pittsburgh.

3 holes cross a well travelled road.  #2 (or maybe #3 I forget) you have to hit over a 10 foot high fence over the road.  The fence is there solely so you can't skull a shot through a car window.  May as well have a windmill.

There is even a sign on the road telling cars they travel at their own risk  (this is because the course is city owned, so of course the city council voted to shift liability to the individuals rather than the city).

The course borders Carnegie Mellon, though.  And as a graduate student there, it was the right price.

[Steve_Lovett]

Wayne Golf Course - Bothell, WA
Par 65 - 4,900 yds +/-
Hole 12 - 172 yards - Par 4

There are many which don't live up to their potential that are called "the worst", but I defy anyone to actually find one worse than Wayne GC.

The only redeeming quality are the enormouse steak fries served in the clubhouse.

[JohnV]

Goldegg golf course in Goldegg Austria.  9 holes plowed from a farmers field with nothing memorable about them except how boring they were.

I never played Schenley when I was in Pittsburgh, but I did walk it while doing a course rating (no carts there.)  It is interesting, but I don't know that it should be blamed for the city building a busy road right through the middle of it.

[Garland Bayley]

... #2 (or maybe #3 I forget) you have to hit over a 10 foot high fence over the road.  The fence is there solely so you can't skull a shot through a car window.  May as well have a windmill.
...

Probably doesn't like the Road Hole either. 

[Garland Bayley]

Wayne Golf Course - Bothell, WA
Par 65 - 4,900 yds +/-
Hole 12 - 172 yards - Par 4

There are many which don't live up to their potential that are called "the worst", but I defy anyone to actually find one worse than Wayne GC.

The only redeeming quality are the enormouse steak fries served in the clubhouse.

This one sounds like a "must play". 

[Tom Huckaby]

I play Summitpointe fairly often - it's not THAT bad.  Mike does describe it pretty correctly though - it's surely not anything worth seeking out.  The hills are very severe and there are a few very very stupid golf holes.  But there are a few good ones too, and it's cheap, and there are some nice views to be had... so I never regret playing there.  JES - no, given the site I truly think they did the best they could.  This is a course that perhaps never should have been built - the site is that severe - but once the decision was made to build a golf course there, well... like I say, they did the best they could.

Mike has not played a course I mention often here - THE RANCH at Silver Creek.  If he hates Summitpointe, he wouldn't last two holes at THE RANCH - he'd quit.  It truly does make Summitpointe look flat and reasonable.

Interestingly though, while I've described often here my hatred for THE RANCH, I surely wouldn't call it the worst course ever.  Heck, it's actually a lot of genius shown putting a course on that site - and it's so severe and so awful that it's actually fun in a masochistic perverse way.

No, I'd have to save worst course ever status for a course that never should have been built and/or is so extravagant, over the top and expensive as to make it offensive.  Perhaps Trump's course in LA?  I've never played it, but that more fits the bill for me from what I see and hear.

TH

[Chris Moore]

Furry Creek.  I have never regretted paying a greens fee until I played there. 

[Phil Benedict]

I played a 9-hole course in Brookfield, CT about 10 years ago that made Sports Illustrated's worst courses list.  It was unbelievably bad.  Too hilly, fairways bisecting one another, golf balls flying all over the place.  I thought it was the golf course version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show - awful to the point of being funny.

[John Keenan]

Mike

I have played both Sunol courses numerous times. Walking as well as in a cart and it has never taken anywhere near as long as you noted. My suspicion is that it was an industry event best ball and no matter what course they play those on they are a long day. Hopefully a fun day but always a long one. I have walked Cypress in under 3 hours on a weekday at twilight. Deer grazing the course and overall a nice experience. Not too mention that was the location of a former mayor of San Francisco (Joe Alioto) rumored meeting with mob bosses.

I have played Summit point and liked the front better than the back nine. The back seemed that they had to jam 9 holes in an area designed for less.

John

[Kalen Braley]

Wayne Golf Course - Bothell, WA
Par 65 - 4,900 yds +/-
Hole 12 - 172 yards - Par 4

There are many which don't live up to their potential that are called "the worst", but I defy anyone to actually find one worse than Wayne GC.

The only redeeming quality are the enormouse steak fries served in the clubhouse.

I'm intriuged by this....a 172 yard par 4?  By all means give us a basic sketch of the hole.  I drew up a short par 4 where one had the option to drive over the green with the tee shot.

[J Sadowsky]

Joe Lee's Palisades Golf Course.  Yuck!

Conditioning was terrible, first of all.  Florida was no wetter t han usual when I played, but the entire course was flooded.  The challenges, on the other hand, were simply unfair.   There was no intermediary rough, and the rough was so thick that the ball was gone if not on the fairway.  But many of the fairways were domed, so it was hard to keep the ball on the fairways, which were pretty narrow to begin with.  Water was used like a video game course - leaving too many forced carries.  Recovery was simply not an option, but good shots were not credited.  And, being Florida, the course was flat, including the greens. 

[Garland Bayley]

Wayne Golf Course - Bothell, WA
Par 65 - 4,900 yds +/-
Hole 12 - 172 yards - Par 4

...

I'm intriuged by this....a 172 yard par 4?  By all means give us a basic sketch of the hole.  I drew up a short par 4 where one had the option to drive over the green with the tee shot.

I found a pdf of the layout on the web. The green is fronted by a river and a sand trap on the direct line. Presumably, you cannot hold the green from the tee, or perhaps there is OB right behind it or something. The layout forms a dogleg, so you could hit it across the river on the left and then pitch onto the green.

[Matt_Cohn]

Furry Creek....

Please explain. From the website it looks like a pretty spectacular place?

[Paul Stephenson]

Me too.

I've played it and I wouldn't call it the worst.  Some nice views of Howe Sound.  The par three into Howe Sound itself would exclude it from being the worst.

[Brian Cenci]

Red Cedar municipal in Lansing, MI